As personal electronic devices become increasingly sophisticated, people are using such devices in new and interesting ways. For example, electronic devices can be used to “augment reality.” That is, an electronic device can be used as a viewfinder into the real world and virtual elements can be overlaid to create a reality that is enhanced or augmented. For example, an electronic device can be used to obtain a view of an object or location, and a computer-assisted contextual layer can be displayed on top of the view to provide information about the object or location.
Information provided in the virtual reality experience can be provided by online directories. An online directory can be used to locate and find information about businesses, services, objects, and locations. A user can request such information from the online directory, using for example, an application executing on the electronic device, where the user can be prompted to enter selection criteria such as the general geographic location (e.g., state and city) and the type or category of business (e.g., restaurant) that the user is looking for, or perhaps the name of the business itself, if known. In response, listings for each of the businesses that meet the user's selection criteria are displayed. The listing typically identifies the name, address, and phone number of the listed business. Oftentimes, however, the information may be out of date, inaccurate, or not available. A user searching or using such data, either in an augmented reality situation, in a query to request information, or other such situation, may then rely on incorrect information which may cause the user rely on incorrect data. In other situations, where the search results are not available or lacking, the user may not be able to locate potential places or business or other locations. Either situation can be time consuming and potentially frustrating for a user, which can result in the user not locating the business and the business not completing a transaction and/or the user losing confidence in the online directory or other such service relaying on the information.